Eh, I'll be surprised if I don't like Mass Effect more than Bioshock. The latter ended up disappointing me slightly. A very good, maybe even great, game but not a classic for me. Right now I would rate every Bioware game I've played above Bioshock with the exception of Jade Empire.

I never thought I'd say this, but: I am anticipating Mass Effect less than I have in months and months. The reason? Bioshock.

I cannot possibly see Mass Effect being as good as this game. Period.

The bar has been raised. What can possibly live up to it or surpass it?

I think its apples and oranges. For me Bioshock was a good game but in no way a classic. All hype aside, I think Mass Effect has classic written all over it... But then again I'm not a Professional Prognosticator of Games Deemed Classic.......Just a gut feeling..........*burp* nope, my wife's meatloaf.

If Mass Effect doesn't do more for the RPG genre than Bioshock has done for the FPS genre, I'll be sorely disappointed. Bioshock adds nothing new gameplay-wise, which doesn't make it a bad game at all. It's just I think people expect more out of Mass Effect than KOTOR with prettier clothing.

man that looks sweet,...i better find a job so i can buy this game,but i would gladly sell my soul for it....(any offers?)

5 quid.

and a pack of mentos (mixed fruit).

c'mon it has to be at least the price of a game(40 quid and a pack of mentos)...actually here in neandathal Briatin we still use old money....so 6 chickens and 4 sheep will do nicely,or 5 pigs and 2 chickens,its up to you...and a copy of Razzle

Dr. Greg Zeschuk, co-founder and president of the mighty BioWare, is always a great interview. It immediately becomes clear as soon as he enters to room that he can't wait to sit down and have a good chat about Mass Effect and where it's going.

Would you say this is BioWare's most challenging game to date in terms of ambition and what you want to achieve with it?

Greg Zeschuk: Every time we do a new game we want to up the ante. Mass effect has probably covered more territory than any other game we've ever done. In terms of technology and design it's certainly been the most challenging. I'd sort of give a qualified 'yes' on that.

Do you feel there's a lot of pressure on you to really deliver with the game?

Zeschuk: Yes, for a few reasons. One is time - we've spent a lot of time on this game. Second is that, along the way, we've picked up a lot in terms of awards, PR and expectations of the game. The third is down to our own desire to be successful and stamp our mark on the next-generation. There are already some great games out there and this is ours.

The menu clearly states there'll be downloadable content at some point. What can you tell us about that?

Zeschuk: It might do (laughs). We certainly have plans with what we want to create for downloadable content and we'll announce them around the time of launch. We have a long history with post release content. For us it's about value and fair trade. If you're going to pay us money we want you to get something that's really cool.

We've been working a lot on what kind of package we'll do. Downloadable content can really help and drive the longevity of a game so we'll be going aggressive on it.

So are we talking about extra missions?

Zeschuk: We haven't absolutely nailed down exactly what we're going to do. Our perspective on it is that the edges on Mass Effect are almost none-existent so you can continue to push. It could be a range of things.

It could be more content it could be new equipment or game features. We're really going to take some time and think about what we can do there.

Any plans for a downloadable demo before release?

Zeschuk: We're still thinking of the exact form the demo could take.

So there is a demo planned then?

Zeschuk: Probably... I'm being particularly non committal... Our goal would defiantly be to have one depending on time challenges and things. I can't remember who said it, I think it was Mark Rein.

I'd hate to quote Mark (laughs), but it's a huge challenge getting a game and demo out around the same time. We're still thinking about how exactly that's going to play out. We're clearly running out time though.

You've already expressed your plans for Mass Effect to be a trilogy. Do you see all three games being released on Xbox 360?

Zeschuk: Certainly out intent is to have all three iterations or instalments of Mass Effect to be on Xbox 360. That's the goal.

Exclusively to 360 all the way?

Zeschuk: Can't really comment on that aspect yet, it's too far into the future. Thinking a year in to the future is a big challenge these days.

The law we can't control is the length of the console cycle. I hope, I hope, I hope that this cycle is longer than the last one. We kind of just got started last cycle and it kind of ended when our second game came out. Downloadable content could also bridge the gap by giving you new little islands of story between the big game releases.

Now you've built the game engine will the sequel be developed much quicker than the original?

Zeschuk: I think that's absolutely true. The guys at BioWare have done a great job of creating all the tools and technology to make game creation easier. That's one of the reasons we cross our fingers and hope that this console cycle lasts a long time because we've created a great suit of tools and tech that allow us to build stuff. What took people to make a year can sometimes now be done in three or four days.

What's your take on the whole DVD versus Blu-ray disc storage issue? Has it made a difference to Mass Effect?

Zeschuk: The DVD format is a trick one. We're on one DVD and we're a truly massive game and that'll speak for itself as far as how we got it all on there. Rendered movies take up a lot of space and we're doing a lot in engine, in real time.

You have to be very judicious and smart with compression. I don't think that DVD is going to make the worst game. This is a good game, Bioshock was a good game. I think that speaks for itself.

There's an element of romance in the game. Can you confirm if you can be gay in the game?

Zeschuk: I can't say anything about that at this point. There's some interesting stuff on the game that's a little bit different. I'll leave it at that.

Last question then, when are you going to announce KOTOR III?

Zeschuk: (Big laughs all round) I don't have an answer to that question. It's been talked about for a while. When I played Mass Effect I got a strong KOTOR feel. You know we loved the KOTOR games and it's always been a soft spot in our hearts.

In some ways this could be the spiritual successor to those games, but I'd say it channels some of the feel of those games. Maybe that's because Mass Effect is made by many of the same guys that worked on KOTOR...

I don't know, if a ME demo reveals that the game has a choppy frame rate like in Blue Dragon, they might want to rethink whether releasing a demo is a good idea or not. 75% of the videos I've seen for ME so far have disappointed me because of the frame rate so...

Ok, here's more. Apparently Bioware hosted a 42 minute preview of the game. The whole 42 minutes is up on youtube, broken up into several vids. Here they are , if you are interested. Note: I have not watched these yet, and have no clue how spoilerific they are. I may not even watch em!

Edit: Ok I've watched through part 3, and there are of course some very minor spoilers. There was a classic moment at the end of part 3 where his xbox locks up, and he comments that it must be getting hot in the room, LOL.

If playing as a male character the scene can take place between him and a human woman or a humanoid female alien.

If playing as a female character the scene can take place between her and a male human or a female humanoid alien

Quote

Violence is pretty common these days, but a sex scene is sure to cause a bit of a stir. According to the extended classification over on the BBFC website the scene in question is "brief and undetailed" but does include "breast nudity in one version of the scene"

If this game shows breasts and a sex scene it will automatically sky rocket to my top list of all-time favorite games. More games need to mature the fuck up already and take advantage of the M rating.

just to take this off topic a little

did anyone play Farenheit(and CK i dont care if i have spelt that wrong!! )?...that had your girlfriend doing a topless table dance for you,which you could watch for as long as you wanted...or until you got tired dancing around your room...not many have had nakedness in games whether they are rated M or not.....GTA;SA having that hidden file in its programme i guess could count

wasn't that one called Indigo Prophecy over here? Or was that another game?

hmm,didnt know that..its this game anyway

er,i like our title best ...my friends didnt like this game but i loved it,and finished it

if you get to see breast nakedness in mass effect,i wonder if its on the character you create?...it would be funny creating a character that looked like your girlfriend.....and oh oh,there she is getting her tits out in a video game....naughty girl,show her mum!!!!,LOL